Mexican politician hopes to be first gay mayor

An openly gay Social Democrat Party (PSD) politician is to stand for mayor of Guadalajara in Mexico.

Miguel Galán, 31, will discover whether his party will put him forward as the official candidate at the end of this month, reports The Argentimes.

Guadalajara has a traditionalist reputation and is currently controlled by the conservative National Action Party, which Galán has accused of being homophobic.

He has said the gay community live as “second class citizens” in Mexico, adding that the country is “chauvinistic”.

Galán, who opened Mexico’s first gay radio station, insists that while gay rights are important to him they will not be his only objective. He hopes that the debate can go beyond his sexuality, but added: “If they [the opposition] want to talk about that it’s my pleasure, but we will also talk about theirs.”

On President Felipe Calderón’s definition of a marriage as being between a man and a woman, he said this “does not show the least possibility of dialogue in this respect.”

However, it has been predicted that his party will only attract three per cent of the vote.

Despite this, he is convinced that the campaign will “open the debate” and ”show that there are alternatives”.